Track of the Week
Next month, on 31 July, US indie Drag City will release the final album by painter and musician Ed Askew, who died earlier this year on 4 January at the age of 84. I’m only learning about Askew’s career now to be totally honest – of his life painting and teaching in Connecticut before moving to New York in 1987; releasing a debut album in 1968 and not another until 1999 – and maybe it’s knowing that Askew is no longer around that gives ‘Gray Air-o-Plane’ (featuring Sharon Van Etten) a real wallop. It could also be his vocal, half-sung and deep in register, the unmistakeable sounds of an older person’s voice. Wikipedia has Askew’s genre down simply as folk, but it sounds like something else to me. Like how you wouldn’t called John Cale folk. Or Lou Reed in his more intimate moments folk. ‘Gray Air-o-Plane’ belongs in their New York lineage, even though Askew arrived in town after that particular party was over. It sounds familiar and sadly missed even though I’m only just listening to Askew now.
3 sentence live review
ALDOUS HARDING, BARBICAN CENTRE, 29 MAY: “You seem kind of nervous,” is an excellent and devastating thing to say to a crowd halfway through your set, especially when you haven’t spoken yourself. After the song that followed (no one will remember what it was because everyone was zonked by the unfussy brilliance of Harding and her chill rock’n’roll band, but it was probably off Train On The Island because she played practically all of it) everyone raised the energy to try to prove her wrong, which was kind of sweet and pathetic of us. Then we went back to a stunned silence that could have lasted hours more than it did, with ‘Imagining My Man’ almost making me as sick with joy as the completely perfect ‘Treasure’. Stuart Stubbs
Album stock market: what records to invest in this June
Your new NASLAQ report is here: your guide to this month’s upcoming albums, incl. Vince Staples, Chanel Beads, Modest Mouse, Tara Clerkin Trio, Kelsey Lu, YHWH Nailgun and more… Read now
The Drift: the month’s best in weird and experimental music - Bumper Edition
This month’s Drift – the fifteenth edition, if you can believe that, has a fantastic array of experimental springtime sounds, for you to will the Solstice in with. Old faces and new are here to see in Gemini season, and once more we are faced with an overwhelming and unnavigable amount of vital new music... Continue reading
First & Best: with Mary In The Junkyard
Clari and David from the London trio share their first and best albums ahead of their debut, Role Model Hermit, coming 3 July via AMF.
Find previous episodes of F&B on our Instagram and YouTube channel, or in previous editions of the Loud And Quiet Weekly.
Essential albums announced this week
7ebra – How To Land A Plane (PNKSLM, 25 Aug): Twin sisters Inez and Ella Johansson have announced their second album of demure indie pop with ‘Dinner and a Movie’, a track that captures the regret and shame of staying at a party too long, on an album for a generation in semi-arrested development as they’re forced to be living with their parents into their late 20s.
Charli XCX – Music, Fashion, Film (Atlantic, 24 July): In a ginormous flex, the normy title of Charli’s Brat follow up makes a lot more sense when you see the album’s cover art, which features a new portrait of John Cale, Marc Jacobs and Martin Scorsese plonked in a kitchen.
Frances Chang – been thinking about confession (RVNG Intl., 21 Aug): Frances Chang wrote her third album on a hundred-year-old baby grand that sounds beautiful on ‘Is affect real?’; a featherlight bit of cinematic minimalism that you could imagine Jockstrap closing a new album with.
Mykki Blanco – CAFE PARADISO (Transgressive, 4 Sept): Blanco hasn’t been around for a while because he was studying a Masters in Fine Art in Switzerland. CAFE PARADISO is his first album since 2022 and seems to be ushering in a new era of nocturnal soul, away from his hauntology rap. As far as sells go, it doesn’t get much more romantic than Blanco calling this “a record for artsy kids… cosmopolitan aesthetes to sit alone in a café and work on crafting the life of their dreams, or just make sense of it.” New track ‘Little Feet’ gives a further, silky idea of what he’s getting at.
Tierra Whack – (Whack’s Museum) (Juneteenth): ‘Whack’s Museum’ is obviously a brilliant title for the Philly rapper’s new mixtape. Playful as much as it gives off an air of swaggy importance. No music shared yet, but it’s out on 19 June, or Juneteenth, the federal holiday that marks the end of slavery in the US.
YHWH Nailgun – Magazine (4AD, 12 June): A short lead time on a shorter album: the New York noise band’s second album is just 11 minutes long (over 10 tracks), and is out next Friday. We reviewed it in this week’s Album Stock Market.
A Pitch
Katy Perry’s World Cup opening ceremony show
Perry to launch herself firmly back into public favour with a show that erases all memory of her going into space with a flower. The stadium begins in blackout. A spotlight picks out a figure ‘dribbling’ a football. That figure is the beloved shark from Perry’s 2015 Super Bowl halftime show. The ball it’s kicking is ginormous because the ball is Katy Perry dressed as a football. Perry shouts “goal!” as she reaches the stage in the centre circle, is helped up, and starts to sing ‘Teenage Dream’. She ‘hatches’ out of the ball for a blast of ‘Hot N Cold’, revealing a custom made football shirt of sequinned red, white and blue stripes. Her kit’s badge is a woman winking. Snoop Dogg rises out of a replica of the Word Cup for his verse on ‘California Gurls’. He’s dressed as a ref. ‘Roar’ is interpolated with ‘Vindaloo’. Perry gives a dancing Mountie a peck on the cheek, who represents one of the other host nations but socials know why she singled out the Canadian and they absolutely love that for our girl. At the climax of final track ‘Firework’, Perry 100% kicks a football into the crowd.
Production costs: $40million. No tracks other than those discussed to be performed. Snoop likely to wear own clothes.
Also this week
Phoebe Bridgers played a surprise show at Madison Square Garden last night with just 3 days notice and all tickets costing between $1 and $20. The money from those ticket sales was donated to the Community Justice Exchange’s Immigration Bond Freedom Fund, which works to release people from immigration detention.
Bristol city-wide festival Simple Things announced a hell of a lineup this week, which includes Squid, Shabaka and the artist Jeremy Deller in the role of guest curators, and a bill featuring My New Band Believe, Moor Mother, caroline, Panda Bear & Sonic Boon, PVA and a lot more. Ticket and info here.
A few weeks ago we shared news of Glasgow DIY label Night School celebrating 15 years with a 2-day event in its home city (29 & 30 August). Now they’ve announced a birthday party in London too, at Earth in Hackney, on 4 September. A secret guest is still TBA, but already the bill boasts Molly Nilsson, The Space Lady, Yu Ching, Whait (a new duo of Wendy Eisenberg and More Eaze) and Mary Jane Dunphie. It’s called NIGHT - tickets are here.
Julia Jacklin has signed to 4AD. No new music yet, or word of what is due to be the Australian’s 4th album, but she has announced an almighty tour for late 2026/early 2027. Tickets go on general sale in 3 hours, at 10am BST.
And here’s a wholesome watch to end your week with: HELP(2), the recent compilation in aid of War Child, has released a super cut of children interviewing the artists featured on the record, including Arctic Monkeys, Olivia Rodrigo, Geese, Sampha, Johnny Marr and Ezra Collective. Take a look here, where Graham Coxon answers what’s his favourite colour, asked by a kid of around 7, with “Pain”. All purchases of the album, and money made through streams, goes to the War Child charity.
